Sunday, April 05, 2009

Is there a reason why we Texans don’t eat much lamb? It’s tender, it’s flavorful, it’s not too expensive and yet you seldom see it. Heck, I even heard a statistic that said we eat less than a half a pound of lamb a year.

So imagine my surprise when I was in El Paso and saw listed on a menu lamb barbacoa with the added note, “For a special treat.”

I was tempted, but I went with the regular barbacoa—the kind made from a cow’s head. You can’t get that in New York City as the barbacoa found here is made with goat instead.

But I’ve been thinking about that lamb barbacoa ever since. And because Easter is coming up and lamb is one of the traditional dishes to serve, I decided to try making some on my own.

True to form, however, I’d never cooked lamb, let alone eaten all that much of it.
My father has always enjoyed lamb and I remember on one vacation we had dinner in a charming New England lodge where they served leg of lamb with mint jelly. He offered me a bite, and while I enjoyed the lamb I wasn’t a fan of the mint jelly—its color seemed unnaturally green and I couldn’t figure out how it could possibly compliment the meat.

It wasn’t until I was 21 that I again had lamb. I was having Easter lunch with my boyfriend’s family in a small Texas town’s finest restaurant and on offer was a choice of either ham or lamb. Ham was my family’s preferred Easter meat, but I decided to go with the lamb as it felt exotic and sophisticated.

I was served a thick pink slab crusted in black pepper that was cut from a lamb roast. On the side was the requisite mint jelly, but I ignored that and just ate the lamb unadorned. I was surprised at how tender and juicy the meat was, and the flavor had hints of earth and grass but it wasn’t overpowering. I enjoyed it—its flavor was refreshing like spring.

Since spring has finally arrived and Easter is next Sunday, here is my take on lamb, and easy lamb barbacoa. It makes for wonderful tacos, tostadas or just served on its own. Though you don’t have to be celebrating Easter to enjoy this lamb barbacoa—for any occasion it will still be a special treat.

Method:
Toast the chiles in a dry cast iron skillet on medium heat for a few minutes on each side and then turn off the heat and fill the skillet with water. Let the chiles soak for 20 minutes or until soft.

Cut the lamb into three-inch cubes and rub the meat with salt.

Drain the chiles from the soaking water and place in a blender. Add to the blender the garlic, the coffee, the water, the cinnamon, the oregano, the cumin and the agave nectar. Puree until smooth.

Coat the lamb with the chile puree, and let it marinate in the refrigerator for four hours.

Heat the oven to 250.

In a roasting pan, coat the bottom with some of the marinade. Place the onions and carrots on top of the marinade and then top this with the lamb.

Tightly cover the pan with foil, and then cook in the oven covered for four hours or until fork tender.

Shred meat with forks and serve in tortillas with cilantro, onions and salsa.

This sounds so damn good. I adore lamb, especially lamb chops which is unfortunate given this economy... I've never made lamb shoulder though - the usual mint or mustard crust seemed unexciting to me. But cumin, chilies, and coffee? Sign me up!

Lamb! I used to avoid lamb outside of vindaloo at my favorite indian restaurants but in the past two years have come to love it. You can cook up lamb chops just like steak by rubbing them with olive oil, salt, pepper and a bit of rosemary and giving them a quick sear. It's true, the buttery fat is incredible and it's a delicious "finger food". Barbacoa sounds like the next step. Also, mint is actually a really nice pairing if you veer away from the sweet jelly and make a condiment with very fresh mint.

This looks great, I love lamb but have a limited number of cooking preparations. I'm curious if you know whether the lamb was grass or grain finished and if so, how this might make a difference to the meal. When I ask butchers around here for grass-only lamb they haven't a clue what I'm asking for or why I'm asking. (They can't tell me the breed, either, just "lamb". Yet lamb tastes different week to week and season to season...

You were here and I didn't even know it?! Well, I'm glad you found something really good in El Paso. Barbacoa is a big favorite of my son and is found in lots of restaurants in town, but I haven't found lamb anywhere. Sounds yummy!

On Sundays, the real Mexican places sell barbacoa de borrego by the pound, here in Richmond. Good stuff. And try to get your lamb at halal butchers, or better yet, if you are out in the boonies (like Highland County Virginia) you may be able to find grass-fed hogget (a large lamb, not yet mutton) for sale. Wonderful stuff.

And I just thawed some lamb shanks from Highland County.. maybe I'll do them in the Queretarense style tonight. I think Ihave guajillo chiles at the house.

Love your blog & have made many of your recipes, as well as steered lots of friends to your site! I hope it isn't sacrilege to suggest, but your lamb preparation sounds like it would be well-translated to a slow cooker recipe. I'm gonna try it this weekend & will let you know how it turns out.

Sounds fabulous. But I have to tell you, in my Dallas/Waco/Austin roots, we didn't eat much lamb. I WISH I'd had the Texas upbringing so that I had. I had to move to New York, marry someone from Queens, and then discover the pleasures of lamb. Lovely, lovely recipe.

We love lamb and eat it often, but normally in the form of t-bone or lollipop chops, and usually grilled. This sounds so good (and I love your pictures) that I think I'll make this for Easter brunch this weekend instead!

This looks delicious! I have barbacoa on my list of "must do for 2009", and this could be an easy way to do it. I'm used to the "cow head" variety of barbacoa, but this seems much simpler (and easier to fit in my oven)!

Now I know what to do with that frozen lamb (instead of the usual rub of puree'd olive oil, garlic and basil). Next time you're in Austin you should host a "blog night" at the County Line or something (you'd never have to pay for food/drinks again.. what a great idea!)

I raise grassfinished lamb in central OK. I've been pleasantly surprised at how willing beef-eating Okies have been to try lamb. I blame FoodTV and blogs like this :) You can find grassfed lamb in NYC at Greenmarket: http://www.cenyc.org/greenmarket/ourfarmers

that looks wonderful. there are a lot of reasons why Americans do not eat lamb. the first is that when the GI's came back after WWII they had been totally turned off by lamb because they had been subjected to Aussie mutton(which has a horrible whooly flavor that really is not even really fit to eat).It is sorta amazing how much of American food was influenced by our post WWII suburbanization. That looks fantastic, I am going to try it with my father's lamb!:)